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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bexar court used bureaucratic ruse to keep suicide off jail stats

While preparing a post the other day on staffing at the Bexar County Jail, I ran across a brief story from the SA Express-News about a jail inmate who hung himself in a detoxification cell at the jail in June. "Adrian Rodriguez, 31, was pronounced dead at University Hospital on Saturday. He had been found hanging in a detoxification cell at the jail Thursday, the Bexar County medical examiner's office said. He died of complications of a hanging; his death was ruled a suicide."

Notably, the Bexar County Jail has been criticized for having far more inmates commit suicide than national averages, and for failing to adequately screen inmates for suicide risks. In this case, "A screening at the City Magistrate's office and again at the jail, where [Rodriguez] saw a psychologist, found 'no indication that he was suicidal,'" A consultant hired last year to analyze jail suicides found that the jail exhibited "an unexplained tolerance for potentially suicidal behavior."

What drew my attention, though, was the bureaucratic sleight of hand used to keep from counting this event in the jail's overall suicide tally. Reported the Express News, "While in the hospital, he was given a personal recognizance bond Friday, so 'he was technically not in custody,' said Adan Munoz, executive director of Texas Commission on Jail Standards. 'We are going to follow up, if there's anything there, but it's not being handled as an in-custody death.'" So they found the guy hanging in his cell, he died from injuries sustained in the hanging, but it's not officially an "in-custody death." Really?

The inmate had been arrested on a robbery charge and had " a lengthy criminal record," according to the paper, so it's pretty clear the personal recognizance bond was merely a ruse to keep another suicide from going on the jail's record. Jailers can't issue personal bonds on their own, though: They'd have needed the cooperation of the District Attorney's office and a local judge to push the bond through, and they'd need to do so in an extraordinarily expedited fashion to get it done between the time the inmate was found hanging in his cell and when he was declared deceased.

One wonders how many other jail suicides have been whitewashed off the books in Bexar County in this fashion?

Perhaps they should use the definition which the UK uses for deaths following contact with the police. Here is the definition from the Independent Police Complaints Commissions Report for 2010/2011

Deaths in or following police custody includes deaths of persons who have been arrested or otherwise detained by the police. It includes deaths that occur while a person is being arrested or taken into detention. The death may have taken place on police, private or medical premises, in a public place or in a police or other vehicle.This would include:• Deaths that occur during or following police custody where injuries that contributed to the death were sustained during the period of detention.• Deaths that occur in or on the way to hospital (or other medical premises) following or during transfer from police custody.• Deaths that occur as a result of injuries or other medical problems that are identified or that develop while a person is in custody.• Deaths that occur while a person is in police custody having been detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 or other legislation.This would not include:• Suicides that occur after a person has been released from police custody. • Deaths of individuals who have been transferred to the care of another agency and subsequently diewhile in their care, of injuries or illness not identified or sustained while in police custody.• Apparent suicides following police custody includes all apparent suicides that occur within two days of release from police custody. It also includes apparent suicides which occur beyond two days of release from custody, where the period spent in custody may be relevant to the subsequent death.

Whoops! Sorry my previous post may have been a little misleading. This is under a separate section of cases which must be investigated.

• Apparent suicides following police custody includes all apparent suicides that occur within two days of release from police custody. It also includes apparent suicides which occur beyond two days of release from custody, where the period spent in custody may be relevant to the subsequent death.

So, this only goes to show that not all psychopaths are the incarcerated ones.

In prison & jail, it is sometimes easier to spot psychopaths since they've already been convicted & processed.

The psychopaths I fear the most are the ones who wear badges, black robes or administrative suits. You never know where they will manifest themselves.

There is a reason some are called Pigs.

There is a reason San Antonio law enforcement agencies encrypt radio communications. Of course, they will use the excuse of officer safety & compromised operations. But, in reality, they do have something to hide, corruption.

Here is yet another example of policy manipulation and dishonesty. Oink, oink, oink.

"...the Bexar County Jail has been criticized for having far more inmates commit suicide than national averages...".

But, the question is, is the criticism justified?

Assuming that the suicide rate amoung jails is distributed normally (i.e., with symmetric bell-shaped curve), then 50% of jails will have a suicide rate that is greater than the average (and 50% less). So if Bexar County is being criticised because they are greater than the average, then that isn't a particularly compelling criticism.

The real question is, how much greater than the average. The article says that in comparison to the national average of 38 per 100,000, Bexar County is 3.3 times the average, which would make it 125 per 100,000. If that were the case than the expected number of suicides would be 6 in a jail population of 4,700. That is okay for 2009 (in which there were 6 suicides), but 2009 is obviously a non-representative outlier. The values for other years are close to or more generally below the national average rate. Based upon the national average rate (38 per 100,000) Bexar County would be expected to have 1.8 suicides per year. What they had was:

What the reporter has done is take the the worst year as representative of all years, when it is clearly not representative of all years. So this is certainly an instance of selective and preferential reporting of information favorable to a particular point of view.

3:47, it was a consultant hired by Bexar County who most harshly criticized the jail on suicides, I just quoted what he said. Anyway, he had many specific criticisms besides just the number, which you can read at the link for yourself.

Besides, if they're using this tactic to mislabel jail suicides as non-in-custody deaths, how reliable are those data?

What drew my attention, though, was the bureaucratic sleight of hand used to keep from counting this event in the jail's overall suicide tally. Reported the Express News, "While in the hospital, he was given a personal recognizance bond Friday, so 'he was technically not in custody,' said Adan Munoz, executive director of Texas Commission on Jail Standards. 'We are going to follow up, if there's anything there, but it's not being handled as an in-custody death.'" So they found the guy hanging in his cell, he died from injuries sustained in the hanging, but it's not officially an "in-custody death." Really?

Is this guy really the executive director of TCJS? Horseshit statement. It may not be handled as an in custody death but it damn sure is one.

You mean the guy was given a PR bond and then hung himself after he signed the bond releasing him from jail? Horseshit!

GFB@4:15 - There are certainly all sorts of good reasons for looking at how the jail identifies and handles at-risk inmates. One doesn't have to resort to numerical/statistical observations to make those arguments.

But both the article's author & GFB chose to make the numerical/statistical observations a centerpiece of the argument. The problem with that approach is that the argument then hinges on the authenticity of the numerical/statistical observations.

In this particular instance, the assertions regarding the data clearly misrepresent the general trend. As GFB has pointed out in other contexts, there is a predictable penalty for misrepresentation of this sort - loss of credibility.

6:40, the point of this post was to highlight Bexar using a personal bond to keep a suicide off their stats, an issue you seem intent on ignoring.

The number you think was misleading referenced a consultant's report with detailed criticisms of the Bexar jail's suicide protocols, which you also ignore. It was an offhand reference and not the central point of the story - I mentioned it to put in context that the jail had been recently criticized over higher than usual suicides and thus had incentive to manipulate their suicide numbers. It's true.

Given that, if you think it makes this blog less credible, I'll take the hit. Feel free to reduce my readership by one if it bothers you so much.

my problem with it is IF they did get the bond and all that paperwork done AFTER he was dead. Then everyone involved from the ones who moved him from the hanging positon in the cell to the judge and DA who signed off need to be locked up IN THEIR OWN JAIL!

at the very least your looking at fraud not to mention perjury on a offical govt document...since i don't think DEAD MEN need a bond to leave the jail!

of course i could be wrong. Heck maybe the office who monitors sex offenders did it! They are used to keeping people and paperwork flowing YEARS after an individual is DEAD

“The psychopaths I fear the most are the ones who wear badges, black robes or administrative suits. You never know where they will manifest themselves.”Amen Selah

With the way things have gotten in the last 20 years its very deceptive the above people are not on the security threat group list. Golden Rule I suppose. I saw where red white and blue are colors that represent life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, unless you see them in your rearview mirror.

A former inmate at the Crain Unit told me an interesting story that a few years back at the Reception Center an inmate in Seg was beaten up and her neck was broken by a male officer then the inmate had a bed sheet tied around her so it look like she hanged herself. This was covered up and to everyones knowledge the officer in question still works there. These sre the type of people Wal-Mart will not hire so they are sent next to TDCJ units in Gatesville. The most dispectable people in Gatesville wears a gray uniform for the state of Texas. I guess they can't help it that Wal-Mart or McDonalds will not hire them and TDCJ only hires morally unfit people.

To say the town of Gatesville of Coryell county is filled with the most despicable morally unfit people is highly understated. This is an area that made its living on the blood of unwanted children since 1889. Many of whom are still buried in unmarked graves around the now Crain unit. This is the reform school town that has been cursed throughout the generations for its abuse of children. When a Federal judge told them they can’t do that anymore, the state moved out the boys and moved in the women. For the last 30 years that brutal culture has flourished under TDCJ. This was a town that was downright pissed off when that Judge told them they had to get rid of the uniforms, couldn’t use dogs to track down wayward inventory, and stop beating the boys.The state couldn’t tear the place down, for obvious reasons. The media blitz on that shit town and the state would be a publicity nightmare when some poor schumk dug up little boys bodies while putting in a swimming pool in a new housing development. The best solution was to let the towns people abuse women under TDCJ where they won’t be questioned. Hell the facility is falling apart.According to people who live near there, the Gatesville sports teams practice very bad sportsmanship. That says a lot about a community. I would venture to say its related to the generational curse the bible talks about that falls on a community when it wrongs orphans’ and widows. If you believe that sort of stuff.

Unfortunately, the intellectually dishonest maneuvers utilized by the folks in Bexar County to keep suicides off their rosters are far too common. The folks down in Victoria just “withdraw the warrants” if they find one hanging. If anyone wants a good laugh, just search the Victoria Advocate archives for the story “Warrants withdrawn for recovering inmate” (7-29-2009). You’ll read a tall tale about how the Sheriff withdrew the warrants (after they’d been executed!) for a fellow that hung himself a few hours after being arrested. The article goes on to mention that the Sheriff will have the warrants reinstated after the poor dude “recovers”, despite knowing that he was on life support at the time. It’s shameful that no one is held accountable when crap like this is pulled.

One might also consider that releasing individuals on a PR bond is a strategy to avoid the costs associated with providing medical care. In this case, the advanced care required represents a significant cost and is being passed on to the taxpayer via the hospital. Likewise, arrest processing will be discontinued and the jail will not assume custody from law enforcement until adequate care has been provided. No doubt pencil whipping is used to massage numbers, but the primary motivator here is more likely money.

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